Several readers pointed out that not everyone in Manteca, Ripon, and Escalon will see their power bills reduced by 15 percent should South San Joaquin Irrigation District displace PG&E as the retail electricity providers.

RIPON – One of the gardens featured in the Saturday, Sept. 12, Ripon Garden Tour showcases a spacious back yard of a country home that has hosted many social gatherings of family and friends over the years.

The resolution to the dramatic 11-hour stand-off between law enforcement and two armed bank robbery suspects holed up in a South Lincoln Avenue duplex came down to what Manteca Police Chief Dave Bricker refers to as the three "T"s – time, talk, and tear gas.

Jennifer Dancy of Ladybug's Quilts is coordinating a drive to help the two families who lost their home and almost all of their belongings due to the police action Thursday needed to arrest two Bank of America robbery suspects.

When Richard Perez was in his early 30s he had a vision. God came into his room, lifted him up out of bed and took him into his kid's room. There, God told Perez that he needed to change the harmful direction of his life or he would find his kids were no longer a part of his life. The vision shook Perez. He'd never experienced anything like it. Yet, he found it difficult to comply. He wasn't ready to pull away from the road of destruction he'd been on since his teen years.

LATHROP – Over the course of the last six months the Lathrop City Council has approved spending just over $191,000 for a restroom at River Park South, the demolition and reconstruction of the 7th Street Skate Park, study space at City Hall and solar lighting at Woodfield Park.

Ninety-one entries in the weekend's Almond Blossom Festival Art Show drew a number of awards for their artworks and photographs. Noted artist Dan Petersen said he had fun judging the show, adding that it has improved much in the past year.

Ray Joseph, 20, of Sacramento, has been sentenced to 27 years in state prison for the attempted murder of a Manteca couple as they slept in their bed at their home on Victory Avenue in September of 2013.